John’s Horror Corner: The Monkey (2025), the blood-soaked horror comedy you’ve been waiting for… as long as you’re on board with its VERY dark sense of humor and off-kilter tone.

MY CALL: Brutal, dark, and equal parts oh so quirky and oh so gory, this film was a breath of fresh air and a nice change-up from the norm. The tone may put off some viewers. But it quite worked for me. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Monkey: The closest film I could match in tone would be something like Housebound (2014).

Director Osgood Perkins (Longlegs, Gretel & Hansel, The Blackcoat’s Daughter) and writer Stephen King (Children of the Corn, It &It remake, Gerald’s Game,) have brought us an off-kilter, blood-soaked zinger with a bizarre, dark tone. And while not nearly as wildly zany as The Greasy Strangler (2016), Black Sheep (2006) or Dead Alive (1992), you’ll still giggle and gasp constantly at this completely ungrounded-in-reality horror film.

This very dark comedy begins with a delightfully silly cameo by Adam Scott (Krampus, Hellraiser: Bloodline, Piranha 3D) complete with a flamethrower, over-the-top dialogue, and a truly festive disembowelment. What follows is a brutal yet hilarious narration introducing our main twin brothers as young boys who, long after the departure of their father (Adam Scott), find a cursed antique drumming monkey that he failed to destroy in the opening sequence.

Like an ominous yet feisty Good Guy Doll (Child’s Play), the monkey somehow appears in places as if it had moved there itself, often in ways taunting discomfort in its discovery. And once the monkey drums, grotesque freak accidents follow, plaguing the boys.

The weird humor in this movie is great (for my taste) and defies reasonable reality in a way that I quite welcomed and, at times, just ludicrous. An awkward young priest’s eulogy is wonderfully cringe, a rather non-triggering bullying scene feels like something from a cartoon or a sitcom, a well-timed mention of a “stiff sock,” and a pie-filling-like result of a stampede death, all help this film to bask in its awkward humor and sick atmosphere.

25 years later, and now estranged from his twin brother for some time, Hal (Theo James; The White Lotus, Castlevania, Underworld Awakening & Blood Wars) realizes that a new and recent string of bizarre accidental deaths must signify the reemergence of the monkey.

Including a freak accident with a box of fishing lures, and a hilariously explosive electrocution death in a pool; these death scenes are numerous, shockingly abrupt, and will either make you laugh or leave you slack-jawed. Every death uses laughably more blood than is sensible, and fragments bodies beyond reason—such as to say “that death would not result in a body exploding!” Some of them are even cartoonish in execution (e.g., the vape death or snake bite scene). For added viewing pleasure, watch out for Elijah Wood (Maniac, The Good Son, The Faculty, Cooties) as a painfully annoying parenting book author, and Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Orphan Black, Keeper) as the twins’ mother.

This film is truly nothing like anything Osgood Perkins has yet created. The tone remains dire, but it is somehow dire via feisty demonic force, making it feel notably less overwhelming and hopeless for the viewer. Still, you might feel some tension.

The movie basically just ends… but not so unsatisfyingly. It ends just as it began… with an abrupt, bloody gag that should provoke a good chuckle. Frankly, if you were initially on board with this dark humor, the ending likely will suit you just fine. I was good with it.